N.H. considering banning text messaging while driving

01/23/08 6:39AM

New Hampshire is debating making it illegal for drivers to send text messages on
cell phones or type on laptop computers.

But, drivers could
still talk on a cell phone while driving.

Assistant Safety
Commissioner Earl Sweeney told a House committee yesterday that state troopers
see far too many people driving down the highway paying absolutely no attention
to their driving as they send and receive text messages.

Sweeney supported
the bill and the $100 fine it would impose on offenders.

The state already
has a law allowing police to ticket distracted drivers. But witnesses at the
hearing said that law doesn't do enough. They described seeing drivers using
their knees to hold the wheel while sending text-messages on tiny cellphone
keyboards.

Other states are
considering similar legislation, including Massachusetts. In a recent case there, a 13-year-old boy died,
allegedly as a result of a man driving an SUV while text-messaging.